Created as the projection
of Prince’s sexual fantasies, Vanity 6 made a brief but memorable
contribution to pop culture.The group members were Brenda Bennett, Susan Moonsie, and lead
chanteuse Denise “Vanity” Matthews.

Like his other side project of
the era, The Time, Prince came up with an image for each member of Vanity
6, and everything was pretty much self-explanatory with their first single
"Nasty Girl." These ladies were sexually forthright and not afraid
to tell you exactly what they wanted. Madonna became a global
icon using that image, but in 1982 this was considered shocking
and the single was censored for radio play. It was still a top
10 hit.

Musically, Vanity 6 was pure dance pop with
a twisted girl group homage in "He's So Dull." The other most
talked about cut was the Vanity-Prince verbal catfight "If A Girl Answers
Don't Hang Up." For live shows they were backed by the
Time.

Prince had even bigger things envisioned for their
next record, but Vanity left the group to pursue a solo career and
acting. She was replaced by Apollonia Kotero and although
she was beautiful she did not have the magnetic presence of Vanity.

As a result, Prince didn't see the point of giving them great
material and among the songs he gave to other artists was "Manic
Monday." Apollonia 6 did hit with "Sex Shooter," but they broke up
shortly after Purple Rain.